


Scentless

by Destielshipper4Cas



Series: Scent(less) [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Dean, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Castiel (Supernatural), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, Getting Together, Hurt Castiel, Hurt/Comfort, Infertility, M/M, Omega Castiel, Omega Verse, Past Abuse, Top Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-09-23 19:40:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20345617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destielshipper4Cas/pseuds/Destielshipper4Cas
Summary: Cas lost his mate and his scent a year ago when his scent gland was burned in order to brand him as a barren omega. Ever since then, he has been trying to pass as a beta, hiding his mutilated scent gland under the collar of his shirts.This works pretty well for him, until he meets alpha Dean Winchester, who turns his life upside down.





	1. Chapter 1

Cas was sitting at the bar alone, toasting to himself. At the end of the night, he would hopefully be drunk enough to forget, if only for a few hours. Forget and stop feeling and quite possibly pass out on his bed.

It had been one year to the day. One year since he had found out that he was barren after they had been trying for pups for far too long. One year since his former mate, Michael, had turned him in. One year since Michael had stood by, watching them burn his scent gland and thus not only rendering him scentless so that he couldn’t ‘lure in alphas anymore,’ but breaking their mating bond.

Of course, Cas could pass as a beta as long as he hid his hideous scent gland with its hideous scar. He never went out without a shirt that covered his scent gland these days, and since a beta’s scent was so weak that an alpha would have to bury his face in their neck to be able to smell it at all—he could easily fool people into thinking that he was normal. Not an outcast, not a barren omega, not a failure.

Nowadays, he had a pretty good grip on his life. Time really did heal all wounds. Well, most of them. The scar on his scent gland was as disgusting as ever and Cas could barely look at it in the mirror.

At first, he had barely been able to leave the apartment after Michael had left him. But now, he got through most days without thinking about him at all—and when he did, he was more angry than sad. Still, on the one-year anniversary of when his whole life had been ruined, he was allowed to wallow in self-pity.

Tomorrow, he would try to forget about that horrible day again. Tonight, he needed some help forgetting…

He was just waving the bartender over to fill him up again when someone sat down on the stool next to him. Alpha. He didn’t even need to take a deep breath to identify that scent.

When he had started going out again because his brother had pressured him, afraid he’d become a recluse, some betas had occasionally hit on him. Sometimes, even an alpha had tried to pick him up—there were alphas who were more interested in betas than in omegas after all. But of course, he had turned them all down. There was no way he would let them see what he was, which would be the inevitable outcome if he went down that road.

So, of course, he hadn’t been with an alpha since Michael, and he sure as hell wasn’t starting now, no matter how nice the alpha who had just approached him smelled.

He turned around to him in order to make it perfectly clear that he hadn’t come here to be picked up when the alpha beat him to it and said, his voice low so that only Cas could hear him, “I can get you the good stuff.”

Oh. So he hadn’t wanted to hit on him, after all. Still, Cas wondered how bad he had to look for some drug dealer to think he was on drugs.

“I’m not interested in drugs,” he set the alpha straight and turned back to his drink, which had been refilled in the meantime.

“What? No! I’m not talking about drugs, I…” Then the alpha lowered his voice again so that Cas could hardly hear him. “You’re wearing scent blockers, right?”

Cas looked up at that and narrowed his eyes at the alpha. He hadn’t been accused of that before. It was a bold accusation for a stranger to make, too. As if anyone would admit to that. And what was he—going around asking all betas that?

They stared at each other for a long moment. Looking into the sparkling green eyes almost made Cas forget what they were talking about.

He quickly broke eye contact and said, “I’m not wearing any scent blockers, you must be mistaken.”

Cas tried to ignore the alpha and hope he would go away, but his heart began to beat faster. Was it possible that the alpha could tell he had no scent whatsoever as opposed to betas, who did have a scent, even though you usually couldn’t smell it? Maybe pretending he was on scent blockers would be better than having the alpha find out what he was.—But no. That would just land him in jail.

The alpha didn’t let himself be deterred, though, and he continued in that voice barely above a whisper, “Look, I get wanting to pass for a beta. I’m not judging here. I’m all for omegas’ rights to use scent blockers. I’m just sayin’, the dealer who got you yours was ripping you off. I can still smell that you’re an omega.”

Cas looked up at that again. That was impossible. What was this alpha playing at?

“I can get you better ones,” the alpha continued. “I’m not an undercover cop if that’s what you’re worried about. I mean, if I were, I could simply arrest you right now for wearing scent blockers because I can totally smell that you’re trying to hide your scent…”

“There is no scent for me to hide,” Cas replied. “Maybe what you’re smelling is the bartender.”

The alpha looked over at the bartender and then shook his head. “Nah. I’m pretty sure it’s you.”

“Something is up with your nose, then. You should get it checked.”

“Oh yeah? Mind if I scent you?”

Cas gawked at him. “_What?!_ _Yes_. Yes, I do mind, actually.”

Who went around asking strangers if they could scent them?!

“Whatever dude. Just… be careful when you walk by an alpha cop ’cause he’ll sure as hell be able to scent omega on scent blockers all over you.”

With those words, the alpha got up and then took out his wallet, searched around in it and fished out a card. “In case you reconsider. It’s not expensive or anything. Pretty much just the cost for the ingredients we need to make ’em.”

Then he sauntered off seemingly without a care in the world. Cas was staring after him, not sure what had just happened.

When he looked down at the card, he half expected it to read ‘Scent Blockers Inc. Production and distribution of illegal scent blockers’ or something idiotic like that. Instead, it was a business card of an auto repair shop.

Maybe ‘Dean Winchester’ wasn’t a full-time dealer of illegal substances.

Cas shook his head to get over that strange encounter, and when he took the last sip of his whiskey, he realized that he hadn’t thought about Michael at all during the last ten minutes. He also realized that the need to get drunk and hopefully pass out in his apartment later tonight was gone.

Instead, he caught the bartender’s eye and nodded at him, indicating that he wanted to settle his tab. For some reason, he felt ready to go home without chasing away the memories with alcohol. Probably because his mind was currently busy trying to make sense of the scent blocker dealer, who was apparently a mechanic by day and who thought it was okay to ask strangers to scent them.

That night, he didn’t dream about the scent of burning flesh as he would have expected. Instead, his dreams were dominated by the color green and a sense of serenity he hadn’t felt in years—even before everything had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! <3 I’m interested in what you think of this concept. A bit more angst than my usual stories, but there won’t be too much of it besides the obvious self-worth issues and the like—and of course there will be lots of comfort later on.


	2. Chapter 2

Cas was standing next to his stupid car on the side of the stupid road and kicked the front tire in frustration, which, on top of everything else, made his foot throb.

He had no idea why the car had suddenly broken down without warning. Cas didn’t really know much about cars—he hadn’t driven all that much during the last decade or so, hadn’t even owned a car, since Michael had driven them to and from work.

After it all fell apart, he’d been fired from Michael’s firm and had to start his life from scratch. Searching for a job, searching for a place to live… even small things like having his license renewed had seemed daunting.

He looked up and down the deserted road, trying to come up with a plan for what to do now.

This was just what he needed today!

He was on his way back home from a job interview. After all, he didn’t want to work at the Gas-N-Sip forever, but most alphas in charge of hiring didn’t pick the omega—especially not the damaged one with the broken mating bond—if they could choose an alpha or a beta instead.

Of course, Cas couldn’t just pass as a beta when interviewing for a job, since his ID clearly stated that he was an omega.

The alpha who had interviewed him today had hinted at the fact that the only reason Cas had been invited in the first place was because of some quota they had to fulfill in their job interviews so that it looked like they were running a fair business, giving omegas the same chances as alphas—as if! He could have saved himself that trip.

All he had wanted to do was go home and forget about the injustice, but then _this_ had happened.

Cursing his bad luck, he took out his cell phone, intending to find a number he could call for assistance, when his fingers found a card in the pocket of his trench coat he had almost forgotten about.

Dean picked up on the third ring. “_Winchester Auto Repair, how may I help you?_”

“This is Castiel. You gave me your card a few weeks back?” What was he doing? Dean didn’t remember that, he probably tried to sell his scent blockers to everyone he came across!

“_Trench Coat Guy!_” Dean said, and Cas could hear the smile in his voice. “_Here I thought you wouldn’t call. You know, you could have used the cell phone number, didn’t have to call me at work._”

“No, I’m not… I’m calling because my car broke down and I thought maybe…”

“_Where are you?_”

0

Thirty minutes later, a huge black car pulled up and Dean got out, toolbox in hand. He nodded at Cas with a huge grin on his face as he closed the distance between them.

It was kind of hard to hold on to his bad mood in the face of the cheerful alpha, so he returned the smile.

“This your car?” Dean asked, setting down his toolbox next to it.

“No, it’s two miles that way,” Cas deadpanned, pointing down the road. “I just thought I’d wait here instead.”

“Someone’s in a snarky mood,” Dean commented as he got to work, popping the hood.

“Sorry,” Cas mumbled. “Not my day.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Dean waved him off. “I happen to like snark.” He grinned at him again and then bent down under the hood.

Cas was left to stare at Dean’s backside, his eyes slipping down to the tight jeans hugging his ass as Dean all but climbed into his car.

“I’m surprised it didn’t break down sooner,” Dean’s voice drifted over to him. “This car is _old_.”

Cas ripped his eyes away from ogling Dean’s ass. “Says the guy who drives a car from the 70s.”

“60s, actually. And she’s a classic. Pass me the wrench, please.”

He worked in silence for a while after that. When he came back up, engine grease was covering his clothes and there were even small smudges of oil smeared across his face. That should not make him look adorable… but somehow, it did.

“So… I smell you’re still wearing the faulty scent blockers,” Dean mentioned casually as he put the wrench back into the toolbox and took out a dirty cloth to wipe his hands.

Cas couldn’t suppress a smile despite himself. The alpha was persistent, he had to give him that. “You really want to sell me your scent blockers, don’t you? Even though we both know I don’t need them.”

“Actually…” Dean said as he walked to his car and took out a small bag from the passenger seat. “When you called, I brought some along.”

He held the bag out to Cas, who couldn’t help himself and looked inside. There were two small bottles of what looked like aftershave inside. He had never seen scent blockers before and hadn’t thought about how they might be disguised. Even the label claimed that it was aftershave.

“You don’t need to pay, just keep ’em,” Dean said with a shrug. “They’re only a few bucks anyway, and should keep you covered for a couple of heat cycles.”

Cas stared at the scent blockers, unsure of how to react. Dean was really sticking to his claim that he could scent that Cas was an omega, but Cas couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he held on to the lie. He had assumed the alpha wanted another customer to buy the scent blockers off him, but somehow, that theory didn’t seem to hold much water anymore.

Before he could come up with anything to say, Dean continued, “You can still pretend you’re a beta and don’t know what I’m talking about if it makes you feel better, even though we both know that I know the truth.” He shrugged again. “Just didn’t want you to get arrested if another alpha turns you in. You know, someone who isn’t as nice as me.”

He winked at Cas, who still had no idea what to say to any of that.

Dean sighed. “And now you’re smelling suspicious again. You smell like that a lot.”

“Well, _you_ smell like…” Cas began, but trailed off when he realized that everything that came to mind was positive. ‘Safety,’ or ‘warmth,’ or ‘comfort,’ or ‘affection.’ “…something,” he finished lamely.

“I smell like something?” Dean repeated, eyebrows raised, a bemused twinkle in his eyes.

Cas rolled his eyes. “Oh, shut up.”

“Is that any way to speak to your alpha in shining armor?”

Cas cast a meaningful look at his oil stained clothes, and Dean corrected himself, “Okay, alpha in _greasy_ armor.”

Deciding to call Dean’s bluff once and for all, Cas asked, “What do I smell like?”

“I just told you. Suspicious of pretty much everything I say.”

Cas shook his head. “No, I don’t mean the underlying emotions.” Those, the alpha could as well tell from his body language or guess from context. “I mean my scent—what does it smell like to you?”

“That’s kind of a personal question, don’t you think?”

Cas had no idea why he was disappointed. He had known there was no way the alpha was able to smell him. “That’s what I thought,” he mumbled.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were _challenging_ me.”

“I’m not…” Cas began, but Dean didn’t pay him any mind.

“Well, you’re wearing scent blockers—granted, ones that aren’t doing a very good job, but still. It’s a bit hard to tell, but…” The alpha took a step closer to Cas, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Spring meadow,” he declared after a moment before scenting the air around Cas some more.

Of course, chances were that Dean was just making this up, but Michael had always said he smelled like flowers that made him sneeze. A spring meadow would have made him sneeze like crazy. Cas’ heart began beating faster.

“The ocean after a rainstorm,” Dean continued. “Aaand…” He took another step closer, his face inches from Cas’. Another deep breath, then he opened his eyes and took a step back again, looking self-satisfied. “Honey. Not the kind you buy in a supermarket. The one made by wild honey bees.”

Cas stared at the alpha in front of him, unable to believe it, but it couldn’t possibly have been a lucky guess.

“There,” Dean said, completely oblivious to Cas’ silent freak-out. “You shouldn’t have challenged me. I’m a great scenter.” He tapped his nose with his index finger.

Cas was still staring at him. Even a ‘great scenter’ shouldn’t be able to smell something that just… wasn’t there.

He was startled out of his thoughts by Dean slamming the hood of his car shut.

“All done, by the way,” the alpha declared.

“Thanks for the scent blockers,” Cas said awkwardly, his thoughts still running in circles. Not that he’d need the scent blockers. He was working with alphas all the time. No one else could smell his scent. It shouldn’t even be possible.

“Any time,” Dean said and picked up his toolbox.

Cas pulled out his wallet. “What do I owe you?”

“Don’t sweat it, I was on my break. And this was way more entertaining than my break would have been otherwise.”

Cas narrowed his eyes at the alpha. First the free scent blockers (even though he didn’t need them—but there was no way for Dean to know that) and now he didn’t want any money for fixing his car? Why was Dean so nice to him?

Dean laughed and shook his head and when Cas tilted his head in confusion, he said, “And the suspicious smell is back. Suspicious honeybee meadow after a rainstorm.” Then his smile turned serious and he added softly, “Good things do happen, you know?”

It had been a while since anything good had happened to Cas, so he decided to ignore that remark, and said, “That was a pretty long break.”

“Perks of being the boss,” Dean said and waggled his eyebrows. Then he looked at Cas’ car and back to Cas. “So… do you want to make out?”

“_What?!_”

Dean furrowed his brows and repeated, “I asked if you want to try it out. You know, see if it works? Maybe applaud my handiwork when you notice it’s good as new? Well, as new as an old ride like this is ever gonna get, I guess.”

Boy was his mind all over the place. Cas shook his head at himself. ‘Try it out’ didn’t even _sound _like ‘make out.’ It had clearly been far too long since he had had any human contact…

He quickly got into his car and of course Dean had been right and the car was starting up, no problem.

They said their goodbyes and Dean told him to call if he needed more scent blockers. Cas thanked him again for everything and then he was driving away, watching Dean get into his own car in the rearview mirror.

On the way home, he didn’t even think about the failed job interview anymore. The light-hearted banter with the alpha had been entertaining for sure. He hadn’t had that much fun in… he couldn’t remember how long.

Then there was the fact that apparently, Dean could smell his scent, which Cas couldn’t make heads or tails of.

On top of that, no one had ever described his scent the way Dean had. The honey scent had been mentioned the most, but normally in the context of ‘too sweet even for an omega.’ And the meadow—well, if you were allergic to flowers, that was definitely not a good scent, which was why Michael hadn’t been too fond of it... But when Dean had described the components of his scent, he hadn’t used words like ‘too sweet’ or ‘too watery’ or ‘too flowery.’

Even though Cas didn’t need scent blockers, the idea was forming in the back of his mind that he might ask Dean for more anyway. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if they had to meet again…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the lovely comments and support! They made my day and made me finish the next chapter sooner than planned. (:  
But no worries if you’re reading one of my other fics, I’m working on updates for “Alpha Spunk” and “Scent Like Home” as well.  
I hope you enjoyed Dean and Cas meeting for the second time?


	3. Chapter 3

Three weeks went by and Cas kept thinking back to Dean’s smile and kindheartedness. But the alpha had said that the scent blockers would last him for a couple of heat cycles, so he couldn’t very well ask for a refill already.

He had just come home from a hard day at the Gas-N-Sip—a couple of alphas had made fun of him because he had to wear the stupid uniform that didn’t cover his scent gland at work—when his cell phone pinged.

** _Dean: how’s it going with the merchandise?_ **

Cas smiled down at his cell phone. Just the pick-me-up he needed. It was as if the alpha had some sort of sixth sense.

He chewed his bottom lip and thought about what he should write back. After a moment of indecision, he began typing. He really missed seeing the sparkle in Dean’s green eyes and the crow’s feet when he was smiling brightly.

_Cas: I am about to run out._

Dean’s message came back almost immediately.

** _Dean: already??!_ **

Cas sighed. Now he had to cover for his initial lie with another one. He quickly typed out, _I accidentally dropped a bottle_, and hoped Dean would buy the excuse.

** _Dean: no worries you klutz ;) i got you covered. wanna meet up?_ **

After that, Dean quickly became Cas’ official scent blocker dealer and over the next few months, Cas and Dean occasionally met whenever Cas pretended he needed more scent blockers (which was considerably more often than every couple heat cycles, but Cas ignored the fact that now it was Dean who smelled suspicious). Since he didn’t need the scent blockers when Dean wasn’t around, the bottom drawer of his nightstand was quickly filling up with aftershave bottles.

On top of that, Cas didn’t feel all too comfortable breaking the law regularly by putting on scent blockers whenever he went to see Dean (not to mention the fact that he was acquiring illegal substances in the first place). But of course that was the only way he _could_ meet Dean because the alpha was able to tell when he wasn’t wearing any scent blockers.

Dean didn’t just hand him the bottles in some dark back alley, though. They had gotten into the habit of meeting up during lunch and grabbing a bite to eat whenever Cas let the alpha know via text message that he needed a refill.

Initially, Cas had been relieved that their go-to place wasn’t an expensive restaurant, but some cozy burger joint. Although, as it turned out, he wouldn’t have had to worry because Dean insisted on paying for the meals anyway—which didn’t make a lot of sense from a business point of view because he spent more money on the meals than he took for the scent blockers.

Cas was looking forward to the days he would meet up with Dean and the thought of their next lunch together would get him through some long work days. That’s when he realized that Dean was becoming a friend, which was a weird feeling because he hadn’t made any friends in ages. While he had been with Michael, his mate hadn’t allowed him to have any friends.

Nowadays, at work, there was no hiding what he was, so making friends there was out of the question. And his family of course, knew too. It wasn’t like he had been close with them before, but now he only had contact to his brother, who maintained that he didn’t care about a burnt scent gland, but Cas knew better.

With Dean, he could pretend to be a normal omega who was just wearing scent blockers to pass for a beta. When Dean looked at him, he didn’t see a damaged omega, and Cas liked this persona a whole lot more than the burnt and broken shell of an omega he truly was.

Then, one day when he had sent Dean the coded message for ‘I need more scent blockers,’ Dean wasn’t already sitting at their usual table in the corner when Cas came in. Instead, a huge beta was sitting in their booth and when he saw Cas hesitate in the doorway, he waved him over.

Cas’ heart rate picked up. Had Dean been found out? Had he been arrested? The beta looked friendly enough, but that might just be a trap.

“Cas?” he called to him, and Cas reluctantly went over to the booth. Whoever he was, he already knew his name anyway.

The beta got up and offered his hand as he introduced himself. “I’m Sam. Dean’s brother? He is at home at the moment, indisposed, so he sent me.”

“Oh,” Cas said, trying not to let his disappointment show as he shook Sam’s hand. He had been looking forward to this day for weeks and now he wouldn’t even get to meet Dean. “Sorry you got roped into this,” he added once they had both sat down.

“Dean didn’t tell you?” Sam asked and when Cas tilted his head, he went on to explain, “We’re in this together.”

“He mentioned a brother, but he said you were a lawyer.”

“Oh, I am.”

Just then, the waitress interrupted them and once they had ordered and she was gone, Cas’ curiosity got the better of him and he said, “If you don’t mind my asking… How did you get into…” Cas looked around, but there was no one close by. Still, he decided to be vague. “…doing this on the side? If you’re a lawyer, it can’t be about the money, especially at your prices.”

Sam chuckled. “Well, I’m specializing in omega law, so there’s not really much money in that. But you’re right. It’s not about the money.”

The beta, too, checked their surroundings first before he leaned forward and lowered his voice, “You know how omegas’ rights suck? Well, omegas are not allowed to study law. When Dean found out that becoming a lawyer was my dream, he did everything in his power to make it come true. And then some.”

“You’re an _omega_!” Cas whispered, eyes wide.

Sam nodded. “We moved out here where no one knew me from before, got me a fake ID, fake driver’s license, fake everything so that all of my documents said I was a beta… The whole nine yards. Well, you know how it is.”

Actually, Cas didn’t. All he did was let people assume has was a beta by covering up his marred scent gland whenever he could. But Sam didn’t know that, of course. He probably assumed Cas had a fake ID and was pretending to be a beta at work, too.

“Anyway,” Sam continued. “If it weren’t for Dean… I would never have become a lawyer. So… We do everything we can to help other omegas in need.”

Cas was starting to feel bad about lying to such a nice omega. Maybe Sam would even understand if he told him the truth. But he was in too deep now if he ever wanted to see Dean again.

Sam cleared his throat self-consciously. “In any case. It’s nice to finally meet the… uhm…” Another look around. “…_beta_ my brother won’t shut up about,” he said, smiling at Cas.

Cas felt his heart flutter for some reason.

* * *

That evening, Cas decided to give Dean a call, make sure he was all right since he had been too sick to go out for lunch. That’s what friends did, checking up on each other—and if Dean was talking to his brother about him a lot, he assumed Dean considered him his friend, too. That thought made his heart swell.

When Dean picked up, he did sound a bit strange.

“Hello, Dean,” Cas said.

“Hey, man. You got the new bottle I gave Sam?” Dean asked. He sounded a bit out of breath. Maybe he had had to get up to answer his cell phone—moving around while you were sick could be exhausting.

“Yes. Thank you. How are you? Sam told me you were sick.”

Dean huffed out a laugh. “He said that, huh?”

There was a strange sound in the background Cas couldn’t quite place.

“Is that not true?” Cas felt his stomach drop. Maybe it had only been an excuse. Maybe Dean was sick of having to meet Cas every few weeks. If he had to buy all of his omega clients regular lunches, that would get expensive…

“Depends on your definition. I’m in rut,” Dean’s voice interrupted his silent freak-out.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” There was a beat of silence and then a rustling sound of some sort. “Your voice is not really helping.”

“Oh,” was all Cas could think of to say again. If Dean was in rut, he might very well be _naked_ while they were talking. Cas could feel himself blush and he was grateful that Dean couldn’t see him.

“You know how alphas can be,” Dean said on a self-deprecating laugh.

Cas wasn’t so sure he did anymore. He had thought so. Michael had always yelled at him when he had been in rut. With hormones running high, he had insulted him and been rougher with him than usual. But Dean sounded surprisingly in control, even if his voice was a bit strained.

“Let them hear an omega while in rut, and they go wild,” Dean continued.

Cas had never once heard that before. Let them _smell_ an omega while in rut, sure. But _hear_?

“Yes,” he agreed nevertheless. He should let the poor alpha get back to… whatever it was he was doing, which Cas was definitely not imagining right now. But somehow, Cas was reluctant to hang up.

“Yeah.” Dean breathed heavily. “I should really hang up now.”

“Of course,” Cas said. “Have fun.” That was officially the stupidest thing any omega had ever said to an alpha in rut.

“Cas?”

“Yes?”

“If I’m wrong about this, let’s just blame my rut. But—you know you don’t have to ‘run out of scent blockers’ for us to hang out, right?”

“Of course…” Cas stammered out, caught.

“Good. So, see you after my rut?” There was a hopefulness in Dean’s voice that made Cas smile.

“Of course,” he repeated, this time more self-assured.

“Great!” Dean said. “Can’t wait.” And when he finally did hang up, Cas couldn’t get rid of the smile on his face for the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean was relieved when he was finally out of rut. That had been a rough one. He had almost rubbed his poor dick raw.

Cas’ texting hadn’t helped. Had it been any other omega, Dean would have thought his ‘checking up on him’ had been intended to taunt him, but with Cas… The omega probably had no idea that the mere thought of him had been driving Dean _crazy_ with lust.

At least when Cas had first called him, the rut hormones had made Dean brave enough to call him out on using the scent blockers as an excuse, and to ask him out on a date. Sort of.

So once he was out of rut, they met up more often. Their lunch dates turned to dinner dates, and Dean invited Cas to game night and karaoke night. Okay, so karaoke night hadn’t really been a thing before, but Dean had needed a fun activity that also allowed him to serenade Cas, so Sam and Charlie could suck it up.

After all, he had to move on from simply showing Cas that he could provide for him by feeding him AKA buying him meals.

Cas was something special, so Dean wanted to do this courting ritual right.

This turned out to be more difficult than anticipated since he had never courted anyone before. His ‘relationships’ had largely consisted of casual hook-ups, and his one long-term relationship had been instigated by a rather forward omega who had been the one to make the advances.

Unfortunately, up till now, Cas had not given any indication that he was even _thinking_ about letting Dean anywhere near his scent gland. As a matter of fact, he kept it hidden from view at all times, which was a ‘back off’ sign if Dean had ever seen one.

Cas had probably lost his mate and didn’t want to show off his mating bite. Dean had tried to hint at the fact that it didn’t matter to him if an omega had already been mated before, but with Cas, subtlety never seemed to work quite right.

Of course, with Cas pretending to be a beta, there weren’t all that many opportunities for Cas to invite him to scent his neck anyway, since he had to wear scent blockers when they were in public. Maybe he simply hadn’t had much occasion to show Dean that his advances were welcome.

Dean was beginning to develop a love-hate relationship with those damned scent blockers. On the one hand, they were, in a way, the reason he had gotten to know Cas. On the other hand, since that first day when Dean had given Cas the scent blockers, he hadn’t been able to smell the omega’s awesome scent.

In any case, it was time to leave subtlety behind and make his intentions clear (well… _clearer_). He had a romantic date planned and if all went well, Cas might let him take a whiff of his scent gland.

Since Dean couldn’t wait for their date, he decided to surprise Cas by picking him up a bit earlier than planned, straight from his place of work.

* * *

Cas’ shift at the Gas-N-Sip was almost over. He couldn’t wait to get home and get ready to meet Dean. That thought was what currently kept him from kicking the slushy machine, which did not want to cooperate.

“Need some help with that?” a voice asked from behind.

_Dean!_

Cas froze in terror as he realized what that meant.

_Don’t turn around or he’ll see._

His back still turned to the alpha, he tried to keep his suddenly clammy hands steady. It didn’t work. He fumbled with the lid of the slushy machine, and the next second, the lid came off and a torrent of blue slushy mix spilled onto the floor and over his uniform.

His heart pounding, Cas mumbled something like, “Have to change,” and quickly fled to the back room, keeping his head down so that his chin touched his chest. He didn’t care one bit that the stupid slushy machine was still spilling slush everywhere.

Once the door was closed behind him, he felt numb as his clumsy fingers fumbled off his uniform vest.

He did not have his scent blockers with him!

He frantically looked around the back room while putting on his high-collared shirt. Some leftover fries with ketchup someone hadn’t eaten during lunch break. That might work. Disgusting, but better than having Dean question why he wasn’t wearing the scent blockers.

Cas grabbed a handful of fries, pulled the collar down and rubbed the fries all over his scent gland before throwing them into the trash. There. That should throw Dean off his scent, figuratively and literally.

Cas took a deep breath and tried to scent himself—which had never worked before, so why he thought it might work now, he had no idea. He did smell the fries, though, so he hoped that was enough.

Time to go back out there and pray that his trick had worked.

* * *

The ‘surprise’ part of Dean’s plan had certainly worked, although not in the way he had hoped. After he had startled Cas into ruining his uniform, he tried to fix the machine for him. This was the perfect opportunity to show the omega how useful he was to have around.

Unfortunately, another employee caught him fiddling around with the slushy machine, thought he had been the one to break it, and shooed him away to take care of the problem himself. So much for impressing Cas with his technical skills.

Finally, Cas came back, having changed into his usual clothes. Dean had thought he had smelled a hint of Cas’ scent before and had already been prepared to warn him about reapplying the scent blockers every seven to eight hours, but when Cas came back, all Dean could smell when he tried to inconspicuously sent the air was french fries. (What had he _done_ back there? Stopped for a snack?)

After that slight hiccup at the beginning, things were going a bit more smoothly. Not too far away, a drive-in movie theater was showing an old classic, and a movie date in the Impala was not only the most romantic thing Dean could imagine, but it also gave them some privacy.

Still, when Dean wanted to reach over and take Cas’ hand in his, he chickened out and instead left it close to Cas’ leg without actually touching him.

The alpha on screen was much braver. Of course, he got the omega in the end, winning him over with the help of a huge teddy bear he won for him in an alpha race. (Okay, that part was maybe a bit omega flick-y, but the movie was a _classic_, so that didn’t really count.)

Of course, that meant that Dean couldn’t just ignore the sign and keep driving when they passed by a fair on the way home. This was finally his opportunity to show Cas his prowess. The alpha in him really wanted to prove himself to Cas by winning the biggest stuffed animal at the shooting booth just like the alpha in the movie (well… _almost_ like the alpha in the movie. There were no alpha races around, so this would have to do).

He ignored Cas’ feeble protests (“How do you plan to fit that into your car?”)—and promptly missed the first shot. He _never _missed a shot! Whenever he was around Cas, he seemed to turn into a nervous idiot.

“I like this one a lot better,” Cas declared when Dean sheepishly gave him the prize—a small teddy bear that couldn’t hold a candle to the big one the alpha in the movie had won. “It will fit into my apartment.”

Dean had a flippant reply on his lips, but then he saw Cas cuddling it close to his chest, a smile on his face, and suddenly, he didn’t mind so much that he hadn’t won the main prize.

Of course, that’s when it started to rain. Apparently, the universe couldn’t decide if it loved him or hated him today.

Since neither of them brought an umbrella, they had to cut their time at the fair short and rushed back to the Impala. Even so, they were drenched by the time they made it there.

On the ride back home in the Impala, Dean caught a slight whiff of Cas’ scent. The scent blockers were finally wearing off, or maybe the rain had washed them off. In any case, Dean tried not to be too obvious as he took in deep lungfuls of the omega’s scent. He had forgotten just how good Cas smelled.

Since Dean’s place was closer and the wet clothes were starting to get more than uncomfortable, Dean offered Cas a change of clothes at his place. The omega seemed a bit hesitant, but Dean didn’t want him to get sick as a result of their date. He made a joke about how it wasn’t a ploy to get the omega out of his clothes, and when Cas rolled his eyes, he knew he had won that argument.

* * *

Cas had gotten himself in quite the predicament. At the beginning of the night, he had been apprehensive, but when it became clear that his french fries ruse had worked, he began to relax and promptly forgot all about the fact that he wasn’t wearing any blockers.

Now, it all came back to him, though. He was pretty sure that the scent of the fries had to have worn off. Plus, there was no way he could take off his high-collared shirt, even though it was soaking wet. Unfortunately, he had no excuse if he didn’t want Dean to think he didn’t trust him. He would have to improvise.

An opportunity presented itself when Dean left him alone in his bedroom to change, letting him choose what to wear himself.

The AC/DC shirt Dean had suggested didn’t have a collar at all, but he found a cozy-looking pullover in the back of the closet that would hide his scent gland just fine.

When he came back out, Dean had changed too and just stepped out of the bathroom, rubbing a towel over his wet hair.

When he saw Cas, he laughed and said, “You look like a wet puppy.”

Cas glowered at him, but Dean just fetched another towel and threw it at Cas, who tousled his hair with it.

“Better?” Cas asked pointedly and threw the towel back.

Dean grinned teasingly. “Nope, doesn’t make you look any less adorable.”

“Says the big, strong alpha with the ‘I WUV HUGZ’ t-shirt,” Cas teased back as he let his eyes linger on the teddy bear on Dean’s shirt. First the teddy bear at the fair, now this… “I guess I found out about your secret love of teddy bears.”

Dean looked down at himself as if he had just realized what kind of shirt he had put on.

“Hey! There’s no shame in loving teddy bears _or_ hugs.” He looked up again and fixed Cas with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “You know what? I think I’d wuv one right now.”

With that declaration, Dean rushed towards him.

Cas yelped when Dean tackled him, and he mock-tried to get away, but Dean had him in a bear hug and Cas’ squirming and twisting only caused them to end up rolling around on the floor. They were… roughhousing for lack of a better word, and Cas exclaimed, “Ha!” when it shortly seemed like he had the upper hand. But then Dean twisted them around until he was on top of Cas.

“Gotcha!” the alpha said, pinning Cas’ hands above his head and grinning down at him, straddling Cas, his knees on either side of his hips.

The alpha looked so self-satisfied and dorky in that moment that Cas couldn’t help but lean up and timidly scent along his throat.

He had been vaguely aware of how good Dean smelled ever since he had first met the alpha, but being so close to him made him feel like he was positively _drunk_ on his scent. His stomach fluttered nervously with butterflies.

Dean’s victorious smirk was slowly falling off his face, and he blinked down at Cas. His hands were still on Cas’ wrists, but they were just resting there now, against his racing pulse points, not really holding him anymore.

Their gazes were locked and Cas didn’t dare blink as Dean leaned down ever so slowly. Dean was so close to him, he had to be aware of how fast Cas’ heart was hammering in his chest. Dean’s tongue darted out to lick across his own bottom lip and Cas’ eyes immediately dipped down to follow the movement. The butterflies in his stomach began to go crazy.

At the last second, Cas realized that Dean wasn’t going in for a kiss—he was going for his neck. He wanted to scent him. Any second now, he would move the collar of the pullover out of the way and _see_. And know. And recoil in disgust.

The nervous anticipation turned into panic in the blink of an eye.

Cas bucked the alpha off easily, probably due to the adrenaline coursing through his veins or maybe because he had caught Dean by surprise, and got up, leaving Dean sitting on the floor, confused.

“Thank you for the shirt.” His mouth was running on autopilot while his brain was _freaking_ _out_.

He couldn’t believe what he almost let happen. He would have let Dean kiss him if that’s what he had wanted to do.

That’s when realization hit him like a sucker punch. Dean had wanted to win that bear for him—just like the alpha in the movie, who had wanted to win the affection of his mate. They had been on _dates_. Not on friend-dates, but on _date_ dates.

The signs were rather obvious in retrospect. He hadn’t seen them because he hadn’t ever considered that Dean might be interested in someone like him. But of course, Dean didn’t know that he was broken. If he knew, he wouldn’t want to go on dates with him, much less scent him.

He couldn’t lead Dean on like this. A sweet, nice, handsome alpha like him—he could have any omega he wanted. And there was no way he would ever want a damaged one like Cas. He probably wanted pups one day, and he should have an omega who could give them to him.

He just hoped that he wouldn’t lose Dean’s friendship as well. His mouth said something like “it’s late” and “get up early for work,” and then, because he was an idiot, “thanks for the shirt” _again_.

When he let himself out, Dean still hadn’t gotten up, still hadn’t said a thing.

Of course, as his flight instinct had kicked in, Cas had forgotten his trench coat, which was still drying off, _and_ his teddy bear. To top it off, it was still raining outside.

By the time Cas had made it to the bus stop, the borrowed clothes were soaking wet, too. He didn’t even feel the cold.


	5. Chapter 5

Dean was still sitting on the floor of his living room long after Cas had left with no idea what had just happened.

Everything had been going so well. Dean had felt a possessive surge well up inside of him when he had seen Cas in his clothes, and Cas had sent him clear signals that he was open to taking this… thing between them a step further.

The omega had scented _him_ first, after all. That had been a clear invitation for Dean to scent him, too… right? So, why had he freaked out when Dean had wanted to scent him back?

Dean had been so flummoxed that he hadn’t been able to say anything at all when Cas had made up some poor excuse and fled.

What kind of an alpha was he to make omegas run from him? Come to think of it, what kind of an alpha was he to let his omega go out there into the rain without so much as his coat?

Not that Cas was ‘his,’ of course, which was the whole problem because that was a fact that his alpha didn’t want to accept.

By the time he had collected himself enough to get up, it was too late to go after the omega. So instead, he powered up his laptop and asked google what was up with Cas’ strange behavior. Maybe there was some ‘scent or flight’ instinct he didn’t know about.

He found out that some omegas wanted to be chased by the alpha, but he dismissed that train of thought quickly. Cas had seemed genuinely flustered and panicked rather than coy as a way to invite Dean to chase after him.

One thing every single site he consulted agreed on was the fact that an omega scenting an alpha was a clear sign that he was interested in him as a potential mate. No surprise there—even pups knew that.

Frustrated beyond belief because he simply couldn’t make heads or tails of Cas’ behavior and the Internet wasn’t really a big help, Dean decided to call in the big guns. If anyone understood emotional crap like this, it was his omega brother.

So he called him up, pretended to listen to whatever omega case he was going on about for ten minutes and then casually mentioned what had happened with Cas.

“Want my advice?” Sam finally asked, after Dean himself might have gone on about his problem for quite a while. “You’re not really great at using your words to express your feelings.”

“That’s not advice. That’s a poorly disguised dig at my personality.”

“I’m not finished,” Sam said and Dean could basically hear his eye-roll. “Here it comes: Stop bitching about it to me and go _talk _to him.”

“He _literally_ ran away from me. I don’t think he would appreciate me showing up at his place late at night.”

“Use your words,” Sam repeated. “That’s all I got.”

Dean snorted. “Who needs words? I showed him my intentions through actions. Everyone knows those are louder than words.”

He heard a sigh from the other end of the line. Then, “All I’m saying is, you haven’t talked about anything other than him for weeks now. If you like him that much, maybe you should get over your phobia of expressing yourself and try to actually ask him what’s up instead of speculating about it.”

“As always, you’re no help whatsoever,” Dean pointed out before saying goodbye and hanging up.

At least he had an excuse to stop by Cas’ place to give him his coat and teddy bear back. Since Cas’ excuse to flee had been that it ‘was late,’ Dean would wait until tomorrow after work, though. He just had to try not to think about whatever had happened between them too much until then…

* * *

Cas had been thinking about what he could say to make it all okay ever since he had left Dean’s place. “I’m betasexual,” was the favorite lie he had come up with so far because Dean couldn’t be mad at him because of his sexuality, and Cas might be able to salvage their friendship. He couldn’t imagine never seeing or talking to Dean again, and this way, they could still hang out.

Or he could start dating Dean, taking scent enhancers that might make him smell like a normal omega to Dean. Of course, those scent enhancers were intended for betas, so Cas had no idea if they would even work on him.

Plus, it would be unfair to lead Dean on because sooner or later, Cas would have to tell him the truth and then he would end up _really_ hurting the both of them when they had to break up. So, maybe he should just do it now and hope that Dean would still be his friend. “Want to know something funny? I’m a Barren. Haha.”

The worst thing would be that Dean would stop casually touching him. Those touches had awakened Cas’ omega, who had been completely withdrawn since his scent gland had been burned—until Dean had come along, that was. Losing that would be hard on him.

He was sick of hiding what he was from Dean, though. The alpha was helping unburned omegas out—maybe he would be accepting of a Barren as well.

On their way back from one of their what Cas now knew had been dates, Dean had let him drive his car—which, in retrospect Cas should have realized had been a way to show his affection since the alpha was basically in love with his car. In any case, Dean had helped him out when a police officer had pulled him over and asked for his ID.

_“You’re an omega?” the officer asked, looking down at his driver’s license, and that’s when Cas realized the trouble he was in. The officer was an alpha. He could _smell_ that Cas had no scent._

_Cas would have to show him his scar to explain the absence of his scent. With Dean right there. He took a deep, shuddering breath, but Dean jumped right in, taking care of the situation as he took care of all of Cas’ needs._

_“This is my fault, actually, officer,” he said, leaning over from the passenger seat to flash the officer a charming smile. “You see? It’s our anniversary.” With those words, he took Cas’ hand in his and intertwined their fingers, completely ignoring Cas’ wildly beating heart._

_“And… gosh,” Dean continued, “this is embarrassing… You know, I have this fantasy of being with a beta…” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully and Cas could feel himself flush at the fact that the officer was now thinking they were on their way to celebrate their anniversary with a round of kinky sex. “Won’t happen again,” Dean finished the lie. _

_He was still leaning into Cas casually, touching his arm with his free hand and then sliding his fingers up his shoulder as if they were newlymates._

_“Beta fetish, huh?” the officer said, hesitating. Still, he wasn’t about to just give in. “As I’m sure you know, even acquiring scent blockers is illegal in the state of Kansas.”_

_Cas froze. If they got arrested, the officer would find out one way or another. But Dean had already admitted to the fact that he was wearing blockers, so Cas had no choice but to play along._

_“I bought them in Georgia,” Dean replied without blinking an eye. “It’s legal there for alphas to buy scent blockers. If you could let it slide just this once, my mate and I would be very grateful.”_

The officer _had_ sent them off with a warning and Dean, protective alpha that he was, had immediately laid into Cas, “You don’t have a fake beta ID? That’s kind of risky when you’re on scent blockers.”

“Oh, and covering for a crime with another crime is so much better?” Cas had retorted.

That’s when they had realized that their hands were still intertwined, which had made for an awkward moment, and once they had untangled them, Dean was mumbling about reckless omegas and how he would get him fake IDs.

Cas had to smile despite himself at the memory. Dean really was an accepting, tolerant alpha. Maybe he wouldn’t shun Cas because of his status…

A knock on the door brought Cas out of his thoughts and he got up, chasing thoughts of Dean away.

Not for long, though. When he cracked the door open a little and saw Dean standing there, he quickly slammed it shut.

He had not decided on an excuse for his behavior yet since he had been so busy daydreaming about their dates. More importantly: He had not expected Dean and was not wearing a high-collared shirt.

He quickly grabbed a scarf and wrapped it around his neck before opening the door to face the music.

* * *

Sam and his stupid ideas! Dean had known that Cas would slam the door in his face. Standing in front of the closed door, he had no idea what to do. Should he just leave the trench coat and the teddy bear in front of it?

Fortunately, he didn’t have to come up with a plan of action because after a few seconds, Cas opened the door again—this time all the way—and invited him in.

Poor Cas must have caught a cold. He looked like he hadn’t slept last night and had a huge scarf wrapped around him. Dean had known he was a bad alpha for letting him run out in the pouring rain.

“You okay?” Dean asked—probably the dumbest question he could have come up with.

“What? Oh, yes. Yes. I… I’m good.”

Okay, apparently, Cas wasn’t too suave either. In a weird way, that made Dean feel a bit better.

“I brought your things,” Dean added as if Cas hadn’t seen him holding his trench coat and the teddy bear. “You forgot them.” Anytime now, he would stop being a bumbling idiot and come up with something impressive to say instead of stating the obvious.

“Thank you. That’s very nice of you.” Cas took the trench coat and put it away.

He held on to the teddy bear, though, which made hope blossom in Dean’s chest.

“Do you want something to drink?” Cas asked, looking nervous of all things.

“Yeah, I could use some alcohol for this,” Dean mumbled and when Cas shot him a confused look that said he hadn’t understood him, Dean repeated more loudly, “You got a beer?”

Cas led him into the living room, which only took a couple of steps since the apartment was rather tiny. The omega probably couldn’t afford a bigger one on his salary from the Gas-N-Sip.

Dean took a seat and waited for Cas to bring the beer. When Cas came back with two bottles of beer and handed one to him before sitting down opposite of him, Dean took a few gulps, which wasn’t enough to get a buzz going, but he could pretend at least.

Cas was fiddling around with his own bottle, obviously trying to come up with something to say, and so Dean took a deep breath and started talking, looking at his beer bottle rather than at Cas.

“Here’s the thing. You’ve been kind of sending me mixed signals, so I thought I’d just put my cards on the table here.”

At that, he finally found the courage to look up at Cas because he wanted him to know he meant every word he was about to say.

“I think you’re cute, and sexy, and funny, and weird—which I mean as a good thing—and I’d be totally okay with pretending that I’m dating a beta if that’s the problem. But I don’t get why you’re pulling back when it’s just the two of us. Because sometimes, I think you might… y’know…” He shrugged with one shoulder. “…think I’m cute and funny and sexy, too. You scented me, but then you run away…”

He trailed off. Cas still wasn’t saying anything at all, just looking at him through his impossibly blue eyes.

So, Dean finished with, “I guess what I’d like to know is, are we anything at all or is it just in my head?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to cut off here because there’s another long scene ahead that didn’t fit into this chapter anymore.
> 
> Ironically, even though it’s the least popular fics of my longer WIPs, I’m most inspired to write for it at the moment. But if you’re waiting for an update for “Scent Like Home” or “Alpha Spunk,” I’m definitely still working on those fics, it’s just going a bit slower at the moment. (Next chapter “Scent Like Home” is almost finished, too, though.)


	6. Chapter 6

Cas knew what it had to have cost Dean to say all of that since he didn’t like chick-flick moments and talking about feelings. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He didn’t know _what_ to say that wouldn’t result in him losing the respect of the best person he had ever known.

Dean was looking at him as the seconds ticked by and then suddenly, his face closed off and he put his beer bottle down on the table and got up. “Gotcha,” he said.

Cas was watching helplessly as he made his way to the door. In a second, he would be gone, and Cas would beat himself up over the fact that he hadn’t said or done the right thing, again.

He hastily got up and almost knocked over his own beer bottle in the process. But he didn’t care. His heart was beating wildly as he said, “I don’t want you to leave.”

At last, an honest sentence out of his mouth.

Dean looked back and held his gaze for a moment. “But you don’t want me to stay, either,” he finally said.

Cas couldn’t let Dean leave believing that was the case. Dean had been so honest and open with him only a few moments before, even though he hated baring himself as much as the next alpha (probably more). The least Cas could do was repay him with some honesty of his own.

“Only because you won’t want to,” he quickly said.

A frown appeared on Dean’s face. “What’re you…” he began, but Cas had come to a decision and he had to do this and do it quickly before he lost his nerve.

He took off the scarf and almost got tangled in it in the process. Finally, he had the thing off and threw it onto the floor, baring his neck for Dean to see.

No going back now. No undoing what had been done.

Dean’s face changed in an instant to the look of horror Cas had expected, and Cas’ heart sank.

He had not expected Dean to take a step _towards_ him rather than back, though, his hand reaching out before he caught himself and drew it back.

“What happened?”

“Don’t make me say it,” Cas pleaded, searching out Dean’s eyes with his. “You know what this is.”

“Ritualistic burning?” Dean asked as if he still wasn’t sure. As if there was any other explanation.

Cas nodded regardless.

“That’s barbaric! I thought that has been outlawed.”

“Only on the east coast.” It sure would be nice not to have to care about these things to the point where you didn’t even know it was still happening because it could never happen to _you_.

Dean was still staring at his neck as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and Cas wanted to do nothing more than to snatch up the scarf and wrap it around his neck again to hide how hideous he was.

Before he could follow through with this plan, however, Dean began pacing up and down in front of him, ranting, “I can’t _believe _they could legally do that to you! I’ll have Sam look into it, no one should be allowed to hurt you like that!”

Then he suddenly stopped short and looked at Cas wide-eyed. “Wait—that doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “You shouldn’t have a scent.”

“I don’t,” Cas said, still eying the scarf on the floor out of the corner of his eye and debating whether it would seem weird to put it on again.

“Yes, you do. But how? Did they mess up the process?”

Cas sighed, giving up on the idea to cover up his scent gland for now. “No, you are the only one who can smell my scent at all. You thought my scent was dulled by scent blockers when we first met? That was just me. That’s all I got, there’s nothing more.”

“I’m… the only one?” Dean repeated, stunned. “Really?”

Cas nodded and felt his cheeks flare with embarrassment.

Dean waltzed right past the awkward moment, though, and asked in an unusually shy tone, as if he was afraid Cas might send him packing, “May I scent you?”

“Dean…” Cas rolled his eyes, trying to make it seem like he didn’t care even though he felt his heart breaking. “There’s nothing much for you _to_ scent, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

“That why you’ve been putting on scent blockers for me all these weeks?” Dean asked.

“No—that was… well…” Cas floundered.

“You smell really nice when you’re flustered,” Dean teased with a slight twinkle in his eyes.

It almost seemed like his usual flirty behavior—but of course, there was no way Dean was actually flirting with him. Not now that he knew.

“Okay,” Cas’ mouth said without his permission.

“What—really? To the scenting?” Dean looked pleasantly surprised as he took a timid step towards him.

When Cas gave a jerky nod, the alpha closed the remaining distance between them and carefully nosed around his scent gland. It tickled a bit, but Cas didn’t dare move. His heart was almost beating out of his chest. Dean was so close that the alpha’s scent teased his own nostrils, triggering the instinct to scent back. He held back on that, too.

“Such an awesome scent!” Dean sighed. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

Then he went for his scent gland directly and Cas quickly ducked out of the way, interrupting the scenting.

“Not there. That’s… disgusting.”

Dean’s eyes darkened. “You know what? I would really like to hunt down the people who make you think that. There’s _nothing_ disgusting about you. The only disgusting thing is that alphas are still getting away with doing this to omegas in the first place.”

Cas lowered his gaze. As always, Dean was way too nice to him, but there was no way he really didn’t think his burned scent gland was anything but disgusting.

“Was that the only reason you were freaking out?” Dean asked after a beat of silence.

“It’s a pretty big reason,” Cas mumbled, and when he smelled happy alpha of all things, he looked up at Dean and tilted his head, trying to make sense of what there was to be happy about. “This doesn’t freak you out?” he asked, motioning to his hideous scent gland.

“Sorry,” Dean said, but he still smelled giddy. “I know this is a huge deal and all, and I’m really angry at the people who did this to you. But I’m also very relieved that _that’s_ the reason you pulled back. I thought you just weren’t into me.” He shrugged in an obviously faux-casual way.

Cas rolled his eyes. “Of _course_ I’m into you. You’re the nicest, sweetest alpha I’ve ever met.”

* * *

Dean preened a bit and couldn’t help but puff out his chest at that compliment.

This talk was kind of like a roller coaster ride. He went back and forth between being angry at people who thought it was okay to _burn someone’s frigging scent gland_, being elated that Cas hadn’t rejected him because of _him_, and being scared Cas might still not want to start anything with him regardless.

It had felt so good when he had finally been able to scent the omega. He still didn’t quite know how it was possible for him to smell Cas at all, but one thing was for sure. Scent compatibility certainly wouldn’t be an issue between them. He hadn’t known it was even _possible_ to be able to smell an omega’s scent once the scent gland had been burned.

The second he had wanted to get up close and personal with Cas’ scent gland, however, Cas had pulled back _yet again_. An alpha could get a complex.

But now that Cas had told him he was into him, Dean wanted to pump his fist in the air. Outwardly, he played it cool, though.

“Does that mean I can take you out on a date and you won’t freak out?” he asked.

Cas’ expression turned somber and there the rollercoaster went down again and Dean’s heart with it.

“I… I would really like to, but… I can’t give you pups,” Cas said as if that was some sort of revelation after Dean had seen what some alphas had done to his scent gland so that everyone would immediately know Cas couldn’t conceive.

“Whoa, there, talking about pups? You just jumped about ten steps ahead. Maybe we should start with a kiss? I wouldn’t say no to scenting some more, either.”

Cas sighed, his expression still so sad that Dean would do anything to make him smile again. “But nine steps later, I still won’t be able to give you any pups,” he reiterated.

“Okay, wow, we’re having that conversation, huh?” Dean rubbed a hand across face. “Okay, so, the thing is… I really don’t care. I mean, even thinking ten steps ahead, we’d have options. There’s adoption.”

Cas snorted. “Alphas have this imperative need to pass on their genes. They want to breed their omegas up, not adopt.”

“Wow, kinda generalizing there. But I’ll give you that one ’cause lots of alphas do think that way. Doesn’t mean I do. If anything, I think it’s awesome that you can’t get pregnant.” Dean winced when he heard what had just come out of his mouth, and quickly corrected himself, “I mean, it sucks that it bums you out and I’m really sorry for you if you wanted to bear pups that you won’t ever get to experience that—but if you’re thinking about me and how this is gonna affect _me_? This is basically every alpha’s wet dream.”

He got another disbelieving snort as an answer. “Yeah right, every alpha wants to be with a broken omega he can’t impregnate and start a family with.”

“Okay, first off? You’re not ‘broken.’ And secondly, think about it. You don’t need to go on suppressants which would only alter your awesome scent, so we can still have sex without a rubber _and_ without the negative side effects of suppressants and don’t have to worry about having to change diapers and shit like that. Plus…” He lowered his voice seductively. “Having heat sex without you being on suppressants is going to be _so_ hot.”

Cas swallowed and an adorable blush spread across his cheeks. “Now who jumped a few steps ahead? Talking about heat sex when we haven’t even had our first kiss yet?”

Dean could feel a huge grin spread across his face. “So, there’ll be a first kiss?”

He leaned in and started scenting along Cas’ jaw. Then he slowly moved closer to his mouth and sighed, “Finally,” shortly before he closed the last gap between them and softly touched his lips to Cas’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to end the first part here and post the next part as a sequel. The first chapter is almost finished and will be posted soon, so keep your eyes open for the sequel titled “Scented.”
> 
> As always, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
> 
> If you want to support me another way, you can **[reblog this fanfic (click here for the tumblr link)](https://destielshipper4cas.tumblr.com/post/188178989314/scentless-finished-rating-explicit-tags-omega)**.


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